The subject matter of the present disclosure broadly relates to the art of rotational and/or torsional couplers and, more particularly, to constructions that are operative to transmit rotational and/or torsional loads while reducing transmission of rotational and/or torsional vibrations between driving and driven components. A rotary power transmission or system including one or more of such vibration isolators is also included.
It will be appreciated that the subject matter of the present disclosure is capable of broad application and use in connection with a variety of applications and/or environments in which rotational and/or torsional motion is transferred from a driving component to a driven component. Non-limiting examples of environments in which a coupler in accordance with the subject matter of the present disclosure is suitable for use can include light-duty (e.g., automotive) and heavy-duty (e.g., tractor and/or trailer) motor vehicle applications, industrial machinery and equipment applications, agricultural and farm machinery applications, marine power and drive applications, aeronautical applications, and/or power generation (e.g., wind turbine, gas turbine and electrical generator) applications.
In known drivetrain designs, power is often transmitted from one component to another through rotary motion in which torque is applied by a driving component to a corresponding driven component. Constructions of a wide variety of types, kinds, configurations and arrangements have been developed for use in transmitting such rotational and/or torsional motion, such as belt/pulley arrangements, sprocket/chain arrangements, mating gears, and rotary and/or torsional couplings, for example. In many cases, vibrations and/or other undesirable vibratory inputs can be generated by or otherwise communicated from the driving component to the driven component, such as, for example, may be due to imbalances or variations in the power generating device, imbalances or variations in the driving component, imbalances or variations in the driven component and/or misalignment between the driving and driven components.
In some cases, existing designs for rotational and/or torsional couplers, such as dual mass and centrifugal pendulum flywheel constructions, for example, have been used in an attempt to damp vibrations between driving and driven components. However, such designs are often deemed to provide effective damping over only a limited range of frequencies of vibration. In other cases, the transmission of undesirable vibrations could potentially be reduced through the use of a less rigid or otherwise more-compliant connection between the driving and driven components. However, torsional transmissions are typically sized or otherwise designed to withstand torsional loads within a particular load range and to maintain the desired level of performance at least within that load range. In many cases, reducing the rigidity or otherwise increasing the compliance of the torsional connection can result in a decrease in performance and/or other disadvantageous issues.
Notwithstanding the widespread usage and overall success of the wide variety of rotational and/or torsional transmission constructions that are known in the art, it is believed that a need exists to meet the foregoing and/or other competing goals while still providing comparable or improved performance, ease of manufacture, ease of assembly, ease of installation and/or reduced cost of manufacture.